8 Days A Geek Reviews Missing Linx

Viper Comics latest release, Missing Linx, is written by Dale Mettam who has books like Sidekickin Hero and Orpheus to his credit does a wonderful job of mixing big-picture storytelling with all-ages themes in this book. The art is marvelously created by Courtney Huddleston who has done work on Decoy Storm of the Century and A Bit Haywire previously and was clearly the best choice for this title.

Missing Linx takes the reader on an adventure involving mythical creatures, crazy situations and a mad scientist (with a penchant for the movie Titanic) who is bent on ruling the world.

For those of you who have read Image Comics’ wildly popular book Fables, believing that creatures once thought of as mythical actually being real will not be such a stretch. In the case of Missing Linx four simians act as the safeguard of our dimension against those from their own that would seek to do harm.

The protagonists of this story are: Sasquatch, who, as you would expect, is a big lumbering giant. Taking a page from the Hulk, he speaks in micro-sentences. Skunk Ape is the brains of the operation, clearly an advanced stage of evolution; think Dr. Zaius but with more gusto. Yeti is the free spirit and he has the power to shoot ice from his hands. Plus, he’s a vegetarian who talks like a So-Cal surfer. Bigfoot is the leader. He’s strong like Sasquatch but he’s got brains too; he rounds out the group well.

Our story begins with a small family, a father and two sons, getting settled in for a camping trip. Suddenly a manticore bounds into their campsite attempting to attack the youngest son, Zach. Our heroes are already on the scene, though. Bigfoot helps to distract the beast while Yeti freezes his feet and Sasquatch knocks him out cold. Skunk Ape cleans up the mess by using a bit of his awesome technology to shrink the giant creature to a more manageable size.

Myth meets reality.

Struggling to understand the situation they have just been thrust into, dad and sons come face to face with creatures they thought of only as legend. After a little explanation Bigfoot decides to keep the three fellows under the protection of the group until they can figure out a better situation.

Enter the villain.

Dr. Bedfellow is best described as one part Cobra Commander, one part The Monarch from Venture Bros and one part Scooby-Doo villain, and who doesn’t love a crazy high-tech version of that! Nobody, that’s who.

Here’s where the adventure really kicks in. The story’s antagonist, Dr. Erasmus Q. Bedfellow, enters the picture in grandiose fashion with a two-pronged attack. First, he sets loose a fire breathing hydra and a colossus to destroy a nearby nuclear power plant. Second, he opens a portal to the mythical land to bring forth a scourge of “wee folk” (or fairies) who make a bee-line for our heroes. The heroes manage to escape with the humans into their stealth bomber-looking plane and take off. It is then that Bedfellow announces himself to the world by taking over all television wavelengths to claim responsibility for the destruction of the plant and demand surrender to him as lord and master of Earth.

The overarching plot revolves around Dr. Bedfellow’s plan to bring an entire army of mythical creatures into the real world. He succeeds in bringing a lot of them over using a massive volcano as the portal, but his continued actions begin to warp reality. Take the situation where the Statue of Liberty has been replaced from the neck up by a castle fortress.

After the heroes battle their way into the fortress they find Dr. Bedfellow’s assistant beaten and bloody. Left behind by his former mentor as bait he gives up the location of the secret location of Bedfellow’s volcano portal and the heroes head off to confront the mad scientist.

The final conflict is enjoyably predictable with Bedfellow, in true Scooby-Doo villain form. You won’t be disappointed with how this story winds up, Mettam does a great job setting potential follow-ups in motion.

Missing Linx is a wonderfully drawn and engaging all-ages story. Mettam has created a magnificent world with endless possibilities. Huddleston does a great job of keeping the story flowing and the art leaps off the page at the reader. Children of all ages can appreciate the excitement of this thrilling adventure. With its quality art and story I give it a rating of 3.5 Stars.